Television broadcasters and transport companies, such as cable companies or Digital Broadcast Satellite (DBS) companies, transmit media streams to a customer's receiver for subsequent display on a display screen of, for example, a television. The receiver typically is separate from, but coupled to, the television or other device having the display screen. The receiver can be capable of receiving media streams containing compressed digital programs in the MPEG-2 format, and such a receiver typically is referred to as a digital set-top box (STB). In general, a system supporting the transmission and reception of digital media streams includes a server computer (located, for example, at a cable headend) and “thin-client” that runs software on a customer's digital STB. The server and the digital STB typically communicate via a two-way network, but they also can communicate to a limited extent via a one-way network.